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TERESA MERRIMAN: Bookmaker

Wednesday Conversation

FROM SARAH'S DESK: We're still kicking it at The Art Grind! Today we're speaking with an amazing human! I met Teresa Merriman at the Atlanta Dogwood Festival in Atlanta, Georgia several years ago (the year it was held in a mall parking lot... so fun). Her smiling face popped into my booth (a new fan of my work) and we got to talking a bit. She is enthusiastic about her art and her calling in life. I have been lucky enough to bump into her now and again at various shows around the country- it's always a pleasure to see her and her incredible work. I am a huge fan of her leather-bound journals- and an even bigger fan of her and her mind's eye.

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TAG: Tell us about you and what made you become an artist?

MERRIMAN: I was first introduced to arts festivals by my then-boyfriend, now husband, Mike. He traveled the country and exhibited his knives, with his home base being in California and mine in Ohio. We rendezvous'd in the various cities where his shows were, and that's how we dated for 2.5 years! I helped him at the shows and enjoyed the exotic lifestyle of traveling and being like a rock star. Then I decided that I loved it so much I wanted to make art and make traveling to arts festivals my career.

TAG: Describe the type of art you create.

MERRIMAN: I work with leather, metal, and paper and create functional journals with the intent to free the artists that live within us all.

TAG: What kind of things inspire your work?

MERRIMAN: This is always are hard one to answer. I've always known myself to be a wide-eyed observer and have always tended to study things that peek my interest. The mystery of art-making has been my favorite and most challenging study yet, and I feel it will continue to lure my will for the rest of my life. But more specifically, the things that inspire me the most right now are nature, music, and my own art studio. I'm continuing my side-study of the Golden Ratio .618, which appears in nature over and over again. Bob Holroyd is the most amazing musician, and his music and genre are the types of music that sing to my muse and make me smile and sway while I create. My own studio inspires me because my husband and I built it with our four hands, made it to be the exact shape and size I've ever dreamed it to be, and it has become my sanctuary, where the keel is even, the world quiets down, and where I feel fearless and untouchable.

TAG: What is your favorite thing about your process of working?

MERRIMAN: Right now, my favorite thing is etching into metal. I have created what I call the "Alien Language", an inventive and elaborate style of etching derived from a daydream I had, wondering what the written word might look like on an alien planet. In a blog I had written about this process (which is now unpublished...I'm redesigning my website), I ended the story with this sentiment:

"When I create these pieces, I feel like I'm pulling from depths of myself which very well may be as deep as space. When these ideas come to surface and find themselves in lines and circles on the metal, I feel that they are perfectly immaculate because they have passed through gates and labyrinths of a homo sapient, unscathed. They have survived human schisms like hunger, distraction, resistance, worry, uncertainty, fear, indecisiveness, and even over-confidence...all things with a power to taint the process. But these dots and curves are evidence to me that it is possible to let an idea channel through me; my body is just the vessel, my skills are the sails, and the finished piece is the palpable terminus, when the work exists and then is out of my hands."

TAG: What do you dislike about your process?

MERRIMAN: I imagine you'll think this is total bullshit, but absolutely nothing! I definitely have a hierarchy of most favorite to least favorite, but "dislike" is not a word that exists in my vocabulary for my process. Even when I'm making the bed in the mornings, or when I'm driving across the country for a tour, I am excited about the bursts of ideas that are coming into my head. Half the time, I actually write them down instead of depending on the level of excitement to engrave the idea in my brain. But my least favorite thing? Here it is: paper-tearing. Thank goodness for Netflix and brilliant TV series.

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TAG: What unique challenges do you face with your profession?

MERRIMAN: Living a creative lifestyle can get lonely at times, especially when surrounded by thousands of people at an art festival. I witness more and more often how different my life is than others, even fellow artists, by the comments and assumptions that people make about what kind of schedule I keep and how I must feel or think about things. I struggle to feel known and understood, but I'm grateful that there is a commonality in that sentiment. I sense that each and every one of us feels that we are extremely unique and that we gravitate toward things that make us feel understood. Currently, I'm with the meditation that finding this common ground and connecting the dots is...quite an art.

TAG: What type of art education did you have?

MERRIMAN: I'm mostly self-taught, outside of a few workshops and studio visits with friends. None of those workshops were teaching bookbinding, but I have learned a tremendous deal of skills that lent well to my art form of choice.

TAG: Do you think it's important to have art education?

MERRIMAN: Yes, but not too much! Whether you're an artist or an art connoisseur, a certain level of knowledge is required for the appreciation for the process and the finished work to exist, but too much knowledge can taint the light that shines on a piece and can shove it in or out of a box.

TAG: How long have you been participating in art festivals?

MERRIMAN: 11 years

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TAG: How many festivals do you participate in a year?

MERRIMAN: For 8 years in a row, while we were saving and building our house, I was doing 36 shows per year. Now that the house is practically finished, I have decreased the number of shows to the low 20's.

TAG: What are you favorite art festivals and why?

MERRIMAN: My favorite type of art show is one that is well organized, attracts quality artists, is able to bring tons of people to the event, is outdoors, is at least 3 days long, and has a good reputation with its community and its artists. Why? Because for me, those tend to be the shows that are fun to do, dare I say easy to do, and they are the shows that are conducive to making it an overall good experience, sales included.

TAG: What are some horror stories from your art festival life?

MERRIMAN: Well, there was that time when my van broke down on the way to setup the morning of the first day of the show. Pulled that one off. There were those two different times my transmission went out while on tour. Fun make-shift transportation was required and totally solved those issues. There was the time when my flight was delayed then cancelled but my 10 bins of inventory were already in route. Everything turned out fine. Oh, and that time when I broke out into hives in 90-degree heat at a show...a reaction to an antibiotic I was taking while nursing a surgery wound while on tour. Oatmeal baths; grin and bear it. Rainy campgrounds in the midweeks between shows while on tour. Trying to do a show day with a hangover was a lesson learned indeed. Puking from menstrual camps in the middle of the night while sleeping in the van in the artist parking lot at a show was pretty horrifying. Work being destroyed in a storm. Driving through storms. Creepy hotels. Toothless stalkers. Food-poisoning. Flat tires. Great, great stories!

TAG: What has been a highlight for you as an artist?

MERRIMAN: I would say that that a highlight for me as an artist is that I've come to realize that nothing is a waste of time...no art is a waste of materials...and the evolution of things on this earth, including the evolution of my own work, has always and impeccably taken its natural course.

TAG: How do you target your buying demographic at art festivals?

MERRIMAN: They key in targeting your buying demographic *at an art festival* is to talk to EVERYONE. The buying demographic will hear every word that comes out of your mouth, whether you're talking directly to them or answering a question from someone else, who may be far from your buying demographic. In speaking with festival-goers, I just ensure that each person feels comfortable in speaking with me and that they are received well. When a person approaches your booth to look at your work, you already know that they most likely are attracted to you (and what you create), and reciprocity of acceptance is a humble tactic to encourage not only a sale but a long-lasting and loyal following from that person.

TAG: What advice do you have for others who might want to start showing their work at art festivals?

MERRIMAN: My advice for anyone who wants to start showing their work at festivals is this: Set aside any sentiment of shyness, fear, and doubt and begin with the logics of business. Treat it like a business and be sensible about the start-up risks. And when you find yourself at your first art show, by golly do NOT be hierarchical...do NOT grade your work against anybody else. Instead, be territorial...and encompass your work, your process, your joy in it all in an unwavering command of confidence. It takes grit to be an exhibiting creative; honor this courage by protecting the purity of the creative process and disallow the weathering effects of reactions and time to breach the barriers around this scared ground of yours.

TAG: What do you wish people would understand about artists showing at art festivals?

MERRIMAN: All artists are different, but from my experience, I have noticed that no artist appreciates the question, "How long does it take you to make one?" Although I treat this question like an open-ended invitation to expand on a conversation with a potential customer, I still quietly grip my throat and let out an inaudible, undetectable sigh. We all know we wear many hats as professional artists, and we've heard that list from others. We live that list. And sometimes, running your own business can turn and then it starts to run you.

TAG: How have art festivals changed during your time doing them? Are things better or worse, how?

MERRIMAN: Every show, like any business owner, has one shared goal: success. They want every artist to bank, every patron to boast, and every staff member to be exceedingly proficient in making the event a success as a whole. There are many ways to climb a mountain, and the different trails have different challenges. Some shows can trip and fall or get injured due to their navigational choices, and other shows persevere and prevail and summit the mountain. But this is all fluid...one day, it will be natural to descend from the peak, and a new climber will summit and enjoy the view. I'm just amused to see the dynamic, to be wondered by its many facets, and to be on this mountain, navigating myself.

TAG: What do you wish someone would have told you before you started doing art festivals?

MERRIMAN: Before I started doing festivals, I wish someone would have told me how to do it for 20 years or 30 years, or 40, whatever. The long-term. I had no concept of "burn out" when first starting and never imagined I would become sick of the same questions over and over again. I used to LOVE it when ANYONE would ask me a question. It's been quite a struggle finding a balance and a good attitude with the repetitive things in this business.

TAG: Being on the road can be a strain on relationships, how do you balance that and keep things running smoothly?

MERRIMAN: There are lots of bumps in the road, but a road paved with love and mutual respect make the bumps feel smoother.

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TAG: What is your work schedule like, do you create new work as you go through the year or do you take a time to build up your inventory in an "off season"?

MERRIMAN: I work 14 hours a day, every day, maybe not on Christmas. I create new work all the time and integrate it in my current inventory. December and January could be called an "off season" for me, and I certainly am staying busy in the studio, continuing to attempt to keep up with myself! I have no kids, but Mind's Eye Journals is my baby, and it's hard not to constantly nurture it.

TAG: Are you able to make a living by selling your art?

MERRIMAN: Yes. And then some.

TAG: How do you price your work?

MERRIMAN: The factors I take into consideration when pricing my work are these: time, materials, "cool" factor, popularity of design, proven price points, perceived value, and relative value. It's a complex grid, but within these guidelines, I stay calculated and fair.

TAG: What are some types of business sense that you have discovered through selling your art at art festivals?

MERRIMAN: Honesty, courtesy, and confidence go a long way in business and in personal affairs. It has taken me a long time to harness and hone these skills when conversing with people. And yet, it's been eleven years, and I still struggle with standing behind my price points when people offer a lower value. I guess that kinda falls in the "confidence" category! I'm working on this...I look for examples in movies all the time and try to mimic it until it becomes natural!

TAG: How do you avoid repetition and ensure that your work remains unique?

MERRIMAN: Sometimes, an idea comes to mind when I'm not in my studio, and then I sketch it out for future reference. But most of the time, my gears turn WHEN I'm creating in the studio. I firmly believe that if you continue to make what you see in your mind's eye, you keep your hands busy, your tools intact, your skills honed, then the muses will be most invited to drop evolutionary ideas into your vessel. And do it fearlessly and without resistance. To ensure uniqueness, keep working.

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TAG: When you produce as many works as you need to maintain a show schedule, how do you stay motivated? How do you avoid burnout?

MERRIMAN: Luckily, I have my husband and Hype Man, Mike. He is the coal inside my engine, the current behind my canoe, the wind beneath my wings. Presently, I am troubled by the burnout factor, and without his ever-existant consolation and support, I might have failed by now.

TAG: Do you use social media to promote your work? What platforms have been best for you?

MERRIMAN: About a year ago, I began to read up on social media optimization and instantly discovered the incredible benefits you could receive with some effort. Not a little effort....SOME effort. I laid out a plan and started experimenting to see what works, what doesn't, what my fans expect to see, what they don't care about, and so forth. Once things clicked, I saw great ROI on Facebook and Instagram, and sales continue today. Twitter has not yet worked for financial gain, but I was the least consistent with that platform. I'll keep #trying. I'm currently reading up on Pinterest...very interesting so far, I must say. YouTube is a gem if you're willing to show process videos or themed episodes on a topic, and I find it to be a tool to use on my social media platforms as well as my website for a more enriched customer experience and a deeper love for my work.

TAG: What do your family and friends think about your profession?

MERRIMAN: In my mind, they think I'm a rock star and that I'm doing what I was born to do!

TAG: If you weren't an artist what would you be doing?

MERRIMAN: Who knows?! I'm grateful that art grabbed a hold of my attention right when it needed to. I could have gone anywhere at those crossroads.

TAG: What do you want to be doing in 5 years? 10 years? How will you get there?

MERRIMAN: You know, a decade is a very interesting, tidy measurement of time. When I celebrated 10 years in business, I was amused with the "then-to-now" analyzation, comparison, and timeline. Mike and I were celebrating with champagne and laughing at the flips and the flops, the ups and downs, and at the unforeseeable, fortunate "extras" that this venture has bestowed upon us. We toasted to decades more of success, and to the tide that brings us treasures from the deep. "A good traveler has no set plans and is not intent on arriving."

Please treat yourself to a peek at Teresa's work and follow her adventures and journaling tips on Facebook!

www.mindseyejournals.com/facebook

www.mindseyejournals.com

cell: 719-431-9186